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Junkyard clean-up efforts detailed

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

NEW LEBANON — An $8 million clean-up is under way at the former Bouchard Junkyard, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, which in turn will protect public health, involved state officials and engineers told a large crowd of local residents Monday evening at the American Legion Hall.

But they faced a barrage of questions regarding air, water and soil quality, responsibility for the contamination and the information, or lack of it, made available to the public.

Engineer Jim Magna of the firm Dvirka and Bartilucci, which is employed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said the site, at the corner of Routes 20 and 22, was a former auto junkyard that closed in the early 1970s “due to alleged illegal activities.”

In the 1990s, the DEC learned that PCB drums were burnt there. PCBs, polychlorinated byphenyls, are manufactured chemicals that were used in commercial and electrical products until banned in the mid-1970s. According to the EPA, they “have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system.”

In the 10 years since beginning its investigation, the DEC has taken nearly 1,000 samples of soil, sediment and groundwater, he said. They learned the levels of PCBs and certain toxins exceed acceptable levels in the soils and sediments, and that several metals are at low concentration in the water.

It was decided, and laid down in records of decision in 2004 and 2006, that excavation and off-site disposal of the contaminated soil are the most feasible remedy.

Charlotte Bethoney of the state Department of Health said the fence that has been erected around the 17-acre site will prevent exposure of the public to health risks by eliminating contact. Removal of the soil will prevent direct contact, ingestion or inhalation of the soil, which she said are the three pathways of contamination.

Currently, she said, air monitors have been set around the perimeter of the site, which record data and send it back to her throughout the day.

“I look to see if there are potentials for exposure,” she said. “If no contaminants are going off the site, you can’t be exposed. You will see dust — that doesn’t mean it contains PCBs.”

Magna said the goal is to have under 1 part PCB per million at a soil depth of between zero and 1.5 inches, and under 10 parts per million at depths greater than 1.5 inches. Soil has been tested to a depth of 4 feet. More contaminated soil is loaded in trucks lined with poly sheeting and taken to hazardous waste dumps in Ontario and Chemung counties. It is replaced with clean, tested soil.

A total of 60,800 tons of contaminated soil will be removed throughout the project. The projected completion date is Nov. 14.

During the work, water and temporary mulch are used for dust control.

“If the dust can’t be controlled, the work will cease,” Magna said. Two workers wear air monitors continuously, testing for total dust, PCBs and metals.

More than 25 people asked questions pertaining to the clean-up.

Asked by a Town Board member what his department is doing to monitor release of contaminants into the waterways, the DEC’s Gerard Burke said PCBs usually stay where they are released.

Bethoney confirmed this, saying the type of PCB used at this site “doesn’t like water; it prefers to stay in soil.”

Ted De Lano, who was a plumber in the 1960s, said the home of Geneva Sheldon on the southwestern corner of the site had water that smelled like oil, but her oil tank wasn’t leaking.

“The whole water system was polluted,” he said. “This whole valley runs to the west, downhill. I’d almost bet there was contamination downstream because of that.”

Magna said wells had been sampled all around the site boundary, and that the wells were not contaminated.

Asked about the migration of sediments off the site during rainstorms, he said modifications made to live up to the required Stormwater Mitigation Plan prevent that from happening.

Larry Benson, who grew corn on the site, said the DOH had found there was no uptake of PCBs into the corn. He asked whether the site could be used for agriculture again, and Burke said he’d get back to him on that.

Asked whether General Electric should be made to pay for the clean-up instead of taxpayers, George Harris of the DEC said there’s no proof that G.E. dumped on the site.

Several citizens expressed concern about the large amount of dust raised by the project. Magna said much of it might well have come from off site — from a project at New Lebanon Speedway, four miles down the road, or from other businesses adjacent to the site. Water and mulch are used to keep the dust down, he repeated.

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.

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